YORKTON - Recently, the Yorkton United FC Men's futsal team travelled to Regina to represent Saskatchewan at Nationals.
Futsal is the FIFA recognized indoor soccer game. It has five players on each side and is played on a smaller hard court floor. All the games were televised on the global football streaming platform FIFA+.
The tournament started as tough as possible with Yorkton United facing off against the two-time defending National champions from Ontario.
“The Ontario team is filled with men who have played and still play for the Canadian National futsal team and a player from Cuba who played with both their National outdoor team and futsal team before he defected,” said Yorkton coach Andy Wyatt.
“Yorkton did not look intimidated from the start of the game and it was back and forth in the first half. While Ontario had most of the possession they couldn't break through the Yorkton defence. Yorkton counter attacked and generated good chances but couldn't convert.”
The game was scoreless until late in the first half but with less than two and half minutes remaining, Ontario scored on a counter attack.
Yorkton lost their focus for the last two-minutes and allowed two more goals late to be down 3-0 at the half.
Yorkton did not quit and came out strong in the second half to get one goal back by Steven DeLong.
Ontario increased the pressure and were up 5 - 1 but Yorkton replied with two quick goals of their own to make it 5 - 3 with goals by DeLong and Nick Looft.
Soon after scoring their third goal, Yorkton had a break away to get the game within one but the Ontario keeper made a brilliant save to keep the lead at two.
With Yorkton pushing forward, Ontario scored with one more goal to make the final 6 - 3.
"I couldn't have been prouder of the boys,” said Wyatt. “Ontario was a fantastic team with incredible players who have played at the highest level of soccer in their Province but also internationally. We had two bad minutes of soccer in each half. If not for that, with a little luck, we could have tied that game up and even upset the champs."
Yorkton's second game was against the Alberta Provincial Champions from Edmonton.
Opposite to their game against Ontario, Yorkton came out flat and were soon behind and could never get into the game. The final score was 16 - 4 for Alberta.
Coach Benno Looft said, "We may have put too much in the Ontario game and lost our focus against Alberta. They were a strong team but we made it easy for them with our mistakes and lack of focus. The whole team was disappointed with how we played in that game. Ontario ended up beating Alberta badly 9 - 2 which goes to show how inconsistent we were in those two games".
Goal scorers were DeLong with two, Noah Wyatt and Justin Adam with one each.
Yorkton United's third game was against the champions from Nunavut.
Yorkton led 3 - 0 early and never looked back eventually winning 13 - 6. Goal scorers were DeLong with six, Wyatt and Dillon Ferridge scored three each and Leon Derks scored one goal.
Based on their record of one win and two losses, Yorkton's final game was against the champions from B.C.
Yorkton started strong and scored 15-seconds into the game but B.C. tied it up a few minutes later.
Yorkton took the lead again but B.C. tied it up before the first half ended to make it 2 - 2 at half.
The second half was defensive with few chances either way, but B.C. took the 3 - 2 lead.
With Yorkton pressing at the end, DeLong was left out front alone with 15-seconds left but his shot went agonizingly off the toe of the keeper and the inside of the post to keep the score 3 -2 for B.C.
"The game against B.C. was a great game. B.C. is a Provincial soccer powerhouse in the country,” said Looft. “While the game was close, we probably outplayed them for the most part. Our finishing let us down otherwise we could have won that game."
"For a team from Yorkton playing against teams from Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver, we knew we would be in tough,” added Wyatt. “Those teams play in men's leagues and pick players from University's and even semi-professional leagues. Due to our size, we play in a small recreational league in Yorkton and our lack of big game experience was probably the difference. To compete at that level shows just how incredible the Yorkton United soccer program is. Most of our players grew up playing for Yorkton United and it was wonderful to see them play soccer at the highest amateur level in Canada. With the strong young players we have coming up, I hope this the first of many appearances at Nationals."
The Yorkton United Men's team would like to thank their sponsors, the Kinsmen Club of Yorkton, the Yorkton Lion's Club, Bridgeview Manufacturing Inc and Yorkton United FC.
